This weekend a contingent of Tiger Moth biplanes will weave their way down the Hunter Valley and roar over St Mary’s Anglican Church.
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One pilot will peel off and leave the formation incomplete as it passes over Maitland to signify the loss of a fellow pilot.
It will be the final gesture of respect, love and farewell to a true local boy and member of the Luskintyre Airfield family – David Fletcher.
The bright, enthusiastic and joyful Lambs Valley family man died aged 47 and is survived by his wife Sharon and sons Joe and Pat.
David appeared in the Mercury earlier this year when he, along with his brothers Malcolm, Grant and Greg and their mother Liz, completed the restoration of a 1941 Tiger Moth in tribute to their late father Lance Fletcher.
The plane David and his family poured more than a decade into restoring was to be used to scatter Lance’s ashes over the golden fields of Luskintyre.
Sharon Fletcher said her husband, the man she called Planes Trains and Automobiles for his love of machines, would still join his father for that final flight.
“We’re having David cremated so the father and son will be scattered from the plane over Luskintyre together,” she said.
“We’ll also have a rock at Luskintyre so we can visit him and his dad.”
David attended Maitland Boy’s High School until starting his apprenticeship as a fitter and machinist. He was awarded Apprentice of the Year in 1987 for his work manufacturing coal and passenger trains at Newcastle rail company A Goninan and Co.
“He was a go-getter from day-one,” his wife said.
David worked with his hands and with steel for much of his life and started his own business, HV Line & Bore Machining.
Mrs Fletcher said her husband’s business was his passion and his employees were like family to him.
“David’s legacy will continue through his business for his boys,” she said.
“He always loved machines – model steam engines, planes with his father, he loved his cars – his Torana.”
Countless Maitland residents would have passed David as he jogged his horses, pacers, along the road to Morpeth.
While Mrs Fletcher said her husband had a hand in seemingly every venture around town, it was his caring, funny and smiling nature that would be most missed.
“He always had a smile on his face and he’ll be deeply missed because he made everyone smile and laugh. He just cared for everyone,” she said.
David’s funeral will be held at St Mary’s Anglican Church in Maitland at 2pm on Friday, October 9.
In lieu of flowers, the family has asked for donations to the heart foundation to be left at the church.
